Arunaben's khakhras reach new heights

Arunaben from Ahmedabad may not know this, but I am sure she would be happy to read that her famous khakhras, (a savoury snack like a hard chapatti), have reached the top of Europe. Mt Jungfrau, as the mountain summit is called, is suffused with the desi flavour. Even another mountaintop, Mt Titlis has a huge Indian tourist presence.

Indians are there in droves, revelling in the snowy peaks of stunning Switzerland. Some of the local Swiss gawk at the childish antics of Indians. Others look amused butu00a0 try not to show it as adults slide down snowy slopes shrieking with glee. They make little snowballs and pelt each other, laughing madly as they hit bullseye. Other locals look resigned as if saying, 'we need them (tourists) and we have to put up with them.'

Orientals too are a sizeable number, one of the cafes on the mountains sells noodles. So, there they are, the Indians picnicking in Switzerland and that is how I write about Arunaben's khakhras. On Jungfrau, top of Europe, were a couple of Indian ladies, sitting outside the little cafe. One of them opened a box of khakhras.
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Another sprinkled chilli powder on them and they started eating, offering them to a few other Indians around and revealing to somebody who asked where they are from: Arunaben from Ahmedabad. There is a signboard above that says, 'not a picnic area,' but it was blissfully ignored.u00a0

Souvenir shops were crowded with Indians. Shop employees were busy packing cowbells, a souvenir, which Indians seem to be buying up in a fervour. It is a fervour fuelled by the movie, Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge (DDLJ) where Kajol hangs a huge Swiss cowbell on her home door. There was a cut out of Shahrukh and Kajol at the base of one of these tourist spots. A shop was doing brisk business selling masala chai and pav bhaji, if I remember correctly.

Similar scenes of Indian euphoria were witnessed at another Swiss spot, the Trummelbach Falls. Indians were diving amidst the flowers there, for pictures. Shouts about the movie Sangam hovered in the clean, Swiss air.

The lead actors in the Raj Kapoor movies had met at the Trummelbach Falls. A couple ofu00a0 locals looked astonished as they saw the Indians submerged in the flowers. Like us or hate us, you cannot ignore us. The cheese is Swiss, but your bread 'n butter ufffd tourism is Indian.